Producer Profile: Le Clos du Caillou

Le Clos du Caillou is located in Courthézon, on the eastern border of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation. The Pouizin family acquired the property in 1956 and subsequently expanded the vineyards, which are planted with twelve different varieties including a surprisingly high ratio of Clairette Rose among the whites. Sylvie Vacheron, (né Pouizin) and her late husband, Jean-Denis Vacheron, took over Le Clos du Caillou in 1995. Today, Sylvie Vacheron is assisted by winemaker Bruno Gaspard and enologist Philippe Cambie.

The Cellar at Le Clos du Caillou

Le Clos du Caillou owns nine hectares of vineyards in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation and forty-four hectares in the Côtes-du-Rhône appellation. Initially, the estate was a hunting reserve. In 1936, its then-owner refused to let the experts in charge of delimiting the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation visit the domaine. As a result, the vines inside the Clos were classified as Côtes-du-Rhône Villages, although the terroir is identical to the adjacent lieux-dits in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

The vineyards include two types of terrain: sandy soils and pebbly soils. The sandy soils represent a real asset at Le Clos du Caillou and cover a large share of the vineyards. Located on the lieux-dits ‘Les Cailloux’ and ‘Les Cassanets’ these terrains are precocious and allow the grapes to mature about two weeks in advance. Another attribute of vineyards rich in sand is that they yield wines that offer considerable finesse and elegance. Pebbly soils are found in the hillside lieux-dits ‘Les Cassanets’ and ‘Les Garrigues', the latter being in Côtes-du-Rhône.

Le Clos du Caillou’s Châteauneuf-du-Papes are made with destemmed grapes and long fermentations that start with a cold soak that lasts around two days. As a result, these Châteauneuf-du-Papes are intense and powerful, aromatically speaking. The most complex cuvées have outstanding potential, but need a couple of years in the cellar to truly shine. The wines produced by Le Clos du Caillou all possess a natural finesse and freshness that balances their intensity and keeps them from feeling over-ripe. The domaine's Côtes-du-Rhônes are some of the finest of the southern Rhône. First, as previously mentioned, they come from parcels that could have been included in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation when it was created in 1936. Second, these vineyards are farmed with the same care as the estate's vineyards in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. In 2010, Le Clos du Caillou received its organic certification, and is now experimenting with biodynamic farming. The domaine also produces one Côtes-du-Rhône cuvée without any additional sulfur, although Sylvie Vacheron told me this practice would be limited to the regular Côtes-du-Rhône red.

The Wines